DOMESTIC BIRDS 



tRrngjlsropdecJ).' ;Thi$ jiame; was also sometimes given to young 

 mammals, but it applied especially to the young of feathered 

 creatures which were more dependent upon the parent for 

 warmth than others. Our English words " fowl " and " bird " 

 come from these Anglo-Saxon terms. At first "fowl " was ap- 

 plied to large birds and "bird " to small ones, but gradually the use 

 of the name "fowl" was limited to the common domestic fowl, 

 and "bird" became the generic name for all feathered creatures. 



Place of birds in the animal kingdom. Zoologists rank mam- 

 mals higher than birds because man is a mammal and his 

 general superiority to other creatures determines the rank of 

 the class to which he belongs. Yet, while placing birds below 

 mammals in a simple classification of animals, naturalists point 

 out that birds are the most distinct class in the animal kingdom. 

 If we compare birds and the lower mammals, and compare the 

 relations of each class to man, we see at once that nothing else 

 could take the place of birds either in nature or in civilization. 

 Among birds are found the highest developments of animal 

 locomotion and of the natural voice, capacity for language far 

 beyond that of other creatures (except man), and family and 

 community relations resembling those of the human race. 

 Hitherto in the history of the world mammals have been more 

 useful to man than birds, but birds have given him some of his 

 best ideas, and with the advance of civilization the lower mam- 

 mals become less necessary and birds more necessary to him. 



Flight of birds. It has been said that " on the earth and 

 on the sea man has attained to powers of locomotion with 

 which, in strength, endurance, and velocity, no animal move- 

 ment can compare. But the air is an element on which he 

 cannot travel, an ocean which he cannot navigate. The birds 

 of heaven are still his envy, and on the paths they tread he 

 cannot follow." 



Since that was written practical flying machines have been 

 invented, but in these, as in boats and ships, man has merely 



